You, and Us
by LoMXD
Summary: rated m for suggested themes. It was a chance encounter. He was just doing his job as a knight. She as a merchant and a mother.They often wonder if they have the courage to embrace something so delicate as love.  Jurgis x Emma's mom  who Igave a name
1. Chapter 1

The lonely woman

The trip to Shizontania was going to be a long one. Emma sat on the carrage bench waiting for her mother to come aboard. She held onto her stuffed animal tightlty as the sounds of her father's roaring voice echoed through the window.

"Make sure you get it right this time! " He yelled. Emma saw her mother walk out of their front door, adjusting the strap on her satchel. He tall, bear of a father was right behind her.

"I know! You know, maybe our numbers would be right if you didn't take so much of it out for your damn parties."

"Don't you talk back to me Roslyn!"

Emma watched as her mother didn't even turn back to look at her husband , even though he weas still tlaking at her. Roslyn stepped onto the bench and took one glance into the back of their wagon. All the crates were there, most of them were secured. She then looked down to Emma and smiled.

"Shall we get going? If we don't hurry the rest of the group is going to leave us behind." She said. Emma knodded. She was eager to leave her father beinhd for a few weeks while they attempted to sell their wares to the people of Shizontania. The fact that they were travelling with Fortune's market, meant that they would have a little protection. Emma looked at the barrier that towered above them. This wasn't going to be her first time venturing out of the barrier, but it was frightening all the same.

The people of the caravan liked Roslyn and her daughter. There were certainly a lot of people who pitited the two of them for putting up with a drunk for a father and husband. Most days , Emma would steal glances at her mother , examine a bruise that was around her neck, or try to interprett the glassy, sad stare that loomed on her mother's face. Whatever she saw, she always knew that her mtoher was suffering. "This trip is going to be good for her. For us." Emma thought. She smiled softlyand looked up at the sky. But neither Emma nor Roslyn knew, what lay ahead of them in the small town of Shizontania.

The diligent man

Jurgis was a little nervous. It was the day of an important operation, and the two most crucial mages, were going to be paired off with two rookie knights, whoes first mission ever was going to be that very assignment. He thought back to what his friend and Commanding officer had told them as he casually smoked his pipe one evening." _Don't worry. Flynn is very reliable and Yuri is to stubborn and proud to let himself die on this first mission._" Rehardless of the captain's confidence, Jurgis was still worried. Not only about the assignment, but also for Hisca and Chastel, who were being left with the boys during the assignment. "_We've gone over it a thousand times. We've all been training for this. We won't fail"_ He thought to himself. Even with all that encouragement, what he thought of the most was of how the townspeople were depending on the small troop of knights to protect them and vanquish all the monsters.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 : A chance encounter

It all happened so fast. One minute, the town of Shizontania was sitting in distance, bathed in the deep orange

color of dusk, the next, Roslyn heard screaming coming form the front of the caravan.

"Stay inside the wagon." The driver instructed. She did so while holding Emma tightly in her arms.

"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay" She whispered to her little girl. Emma clutched her doll tightly. She

could hear the sounds of battle echoing outside. Explosions from the magic, the cries of the dying and terrified.

What scared her of course, was the growling of the monsters that were no doubt right outside the carriage.

The ground was shaking slightly. Roslyn closed her eyes tightlty. She was scared too, but she tried to put on a

corageous front for Emma's sake. Somethng tore through the carriage and latched onto the other side. Roslyn

opened her eyes . The thing before her was nothing more thne a glowing red mass. She saw bits and pieces of

other monsters stuck into it, along with various sticks and twigs form the forest. "_It absorbed them?"_ She

thought. All of a sudden she grew worried for the knights outside, whom she knew would have to fight this

thing.

The carriage jolted with sharp tug. Roslyn's grip around Emma tightned as it shook more violently. She couldn't

even think, or breath as she felt the entire thing tip over with another sharp pull. The crates inside the carrige

tipped over, shielding Emma, Roslyn allowed herself to mauled by several, one of them knocking her in the

head. Almost as soon as she w as hit by several of the boxes, the carriage suffered one more violent tug that

sent Roslyn flying out. She couildn't move, everythng was spinning and her entire body was in a tremendous

amount of pain. "_I have to move. I have to get up or I'm going to die"_ She thought to herself. The sounds were

still the same. Magic, swords, knights yelling orders. The only thing different was that every sound was muffled.

She felt herself get pulled up, she wanted to scream from the pain but her breath immidietly escaped her. She

tried hard to listen to what was around her , trying desparetly to regain her footing.

"Get everyone back into the town! Hurry!" Someone yelled. His voice was louder. He must have been the one

holding her up. He slung her arm around his shoulder. She could feel cold metal against her skin. Armor. She

looked up at him as he they tried walking away from the carnage. Roslyn finally saw everything clearly, and the

ringing in her ears slowly faded away. But every small step she took was painful. She tried hard not to think of

the condition she could have been in if the knight wasn't helping her walk. She thought of everyone else in the

fight who might not have been so lucky. Everyone else. "_Oh no...Emma!"_

"My daughter, she's still in the carriage" She said. The night looked at her then back to his other knights.

Roslyn saw that one of them along with a dog were quickly making their way to where Emma was sitting.

"C'mon we need to keep moving." The knight said. They slowly walked to the gate , and stood by the side. He

must have known that she wouldn't go any farther without her daughter. She hunched over as breathing

suddenly became painful again. She couldn't stop herself from leaning on the knight , catching herself in his

arms. "_ I hope her injuries aren't too serious"_ Jurgis thought. He looked up and saw Yuri running toward them

with the girl in hand. The woman he was supporting slowly broke away from him and wrapped her dauyghter in

her arms. A few of the men from the caravan stepped by the two of them .

"Roslyn ! Hurry we need to get behind the barrier." He said. He was a big guy so he easily hoisted Roslyn into

his arms. He knew she was having a hard time walking. She couldn't help but look at the knight who saved her.

He had beige colored hair, and compared to the man carrying her, he was small in stature , though while he

was carrying her she could tell that he was athleticly built. She wanted to thank him,but he darted off into the

forest, with a few other of his men, right after the boy who rescued Emma.

"Please be careful." She whispered.

Right away she and Emma were taken to a doctor. Roslyn had a hard time moving on her own, but thankfully

Emma looked fine save for a few bruises and scratches. Roslyn was forced to lay down , while Emma sat by her

side,. Her breathing was heavy, and with every breath her body rang out in pain. It felt as if her own bones

were crushing her insides.

"Momma...are you going to be okay?" Emma asked. Roslyn opened her eyes and looked at Emma with the best

smile she could muster.

"I'll be fine. Go get some sleep honey"

Roslyn scooted over and made room for her little girl. Emma was reluctant to climb in, knowing that her mother

was in extreme pain, but she joined her anyway. Roslyn put her arms around her daughter and closed her

eyes. The warmth coming from her small body was actually comforting.

It was a long day. And not a particularly good one. Jurgis stepped into his small room, covered in blood. The

smell and feeling of it almost made him want to puke. He immidietly stripped himself of his gauntlets and metal

greaves. "_I'll have to clean those up later"_ He thought to himself. He carefully put his sword away and set to

cleaning himself up. It was over, but he was still in a bad mood. They lost good men, and three of their best

dogs. He was hoping that the captain wouldn't be put in as bad a mood as he was in because of this. "_But a lot _

_of the people survived"_ He thought to himself. He finally laid down and stared at the cieling, thinking of all those

civilians who survived. "_ Hisca and Yuri, and that woman and her daughter...I wonder if either of them are alright _

_though."_ . The thought was short lived, as sleep overcame him all to soon. His final thought, was of how

tomorrow was going to be another long day.


	3. Chapter 3

The rain wasn't comforting at all. Roslyn sat up in her bed, staring out the window at the gray sky. She ached everywhere, but she knew that there was still work to be done. She had to deliver what the townspeople ordered from her husband, otherwise there would be hell to pay when the two of them returned home. Emma was still asleep, so she made sure not to wake her.

"Earl, could you watch over her ? I need to go see what made it through" Roslyn said to the burly man who helped her. He rose form his seat when he saw that she was awake.

"Roslyn, you really shouldn't be moving. Your-"

"I'm alright. Besides, there is too much work that needs to be done."

She got up slowly and made her way to the door.

"Well if you insist on working today, at least take this"

She turned around to see Earl holding a peach colored umbrella to her.

"Emma would kill me if I let you catch a cold no top of being injured. "

"Thank you Earl. " Roslyn said with a smile.

She didn't have to go far, when she arrived at one of the taverns in Shizontania she saw that some of the other merchants had started unloading the stock without her. In a way she was somewhat reliefed.

"Oh Roslyn! what are you doing here?" A woman burly shrieked. She handed off her crate to a younger man and ran over to her.

"I came to give you all a hand. I know we don't have a much but-"

"I don't care if Ramsus gets angry, you can't put yourself through this! Your injured aren't you?" The woman scolded.

" But I -"

"No buts! If you want to help do it inside and by the fire. You can run numbers with the clerk or something! Go!"

The woman gently pushed Roslyn inside and pulled up a chair for her by the hearth. The waitress with short black hair greeted them with a corteous bow of her head.

" Yo Elidi, She'll go over the report with you. Make sure everything thats there matches what you ordered. Of course it wont though."

The girl named Elidi smiled and bowed once more.

"I know. My boss understands as well and sends his regards. "

"We won't charge you for the difference."

"Thank so much. Wait here miss, I'll go make some coffee."

The burly guildswoman gave Roslyn damp papers that had the bar's order on it. There were a lot of cases of things like wine and produce, basically everything they needed to keep their business running. She had no idea how much of their order they were actually getting.

"Okay. Shall we get started?" Elidi said, putting a mug down in front of Roslyn. She pulled up a chair and sat acorss form her.

Jurgis and Erwin entered the taveren and pulled up chairs. They were the unlucky pair to get morning watch and they were still sore from the battle of the previous night. Jurgis was pretty sure that neither of them had completely washed the smell of blood from their skin. And Erwin had a good deal of visible bruises too.

"Coffee gentlemen?" The bar man asked. He had already readied two white mugs.

"Yes please. Thank you." Erwin said.

Jurgis leaned onto his head and tried massaging an oncoming headache. "_I hope this weather isn't getting me sick"_ He thought. He looked to the hearth. His eyes fell on the familiar face of the woman he save the day before. "_There is no way her injuries are healed yet_"

He watched her move , and could immidietly tell by her leaning posture that she was uncomfortable. "_I wonder if her daughter is alright"_

The two ate a small breakfast in silence. Jurgis looked at the women every once in awhile, even as the two prepared to leave.

"Erwin, take care of the bill. I'll pay you later." Jurgis said rising form his chair.

"Sure thing." Erwin said./ He was to tired to really care.

Jurgis made his way to the door where Roslyn stood with her umbrella. When their eyes met, they paused.

"Your that kngiht from yesterday..."Roslyn whispered. She stood as strait as she could and bowed as deep as her injured body would allow.

"Thank you so much for what you did. You saved my life." She said. Jurgis didn't really know what to say to that, so he stuck to his guns about his concerns.

"Are you sure you should be up and about? Your injuried can't be feeling to good right now." He asked. Roslyn looked away, a bit ashamed, as well as embarressed.

"True I'm not feeling perfect right now, but there is far to much work to be done. I can't just sit around and let everyone else do my work for me. "

"What about your daughter?"

"Emma is fine. I left her at the inn with a friend of mine. "

They were silent for a short amount of time.

"Are you heading back to the inn then?" He asked. Roslyn looked a bit surprised.

"Um-yes I was. "

"Please allow me to walk you back." He said. A small blush spread acorss her cheeks.

"N-no I couldn't possibly take anymore of your time. I'm sure your very busy-"She started

"I would never forgive myself if you collapsed on the street. Especially after saving you."

He bowed his head. Roslyn couldn't help but think about the men she associated with daily. Her husband, a drunk abusive brute with next to nothing for compassion. The other merchant members, while nice were rough and lacked manners. But the man in fornt of her , clad in knight armor was nothing but a gentleman. She could tell he wasn't going to budge on the request of his.

"Alright. I suposse I could let you." She sighed. The two stepped out of the doorway and Roslyn popped open the umbrella. Fortunetly, it was large enough to sheild both of them from what was becoming a heavy downpour. They were silent as they walked side by side. Roslyn was too focused on taking each and every step. She tried not to think of how embarssing it would be if she did collapse.

"So did you come from the capitol?" Jurgis asked. Roslyn snapped out of her slight trance and looked at him before letting ehr eyes fall to the ground.

"Yes. Emma and I came to deliver some of my husbands wears to the people here."

"Are you part of fortune's market then?"

"Well, my husband is. I am part of the guild by marriage but Emma and I aren't really official members. "

"Well that certainly makes things complicated."

Roslyn chuckled slightly.

"Sometimes. But the people of the guild are good to us even though the two of us are still imperial citizens. "

"Your husband didn't make the trip this time?"

"N-no. He doesn't like to take these long trips. I don't really mind it though. "

"Isn't it tough on Emma? The trip I mean. "

She was silent. For a minute , Jurgis wondered if maybe he was asking to much.

"Not really. It would be tougher if she stayed home. She and my husband don't- I mean we don't really get along with him that well. "

"Forgive me. I didn't mean to pry." He said. Roslyn looked at him ands smiled.

"You saved my life, I think you deserve to know if it was worth it."

_"She certainly has a wierd way of putting it"_

"Emma's father passed away when she was still a baby. I too her back to the capitol and we lived with my parents for a short while, then they decided to marry me into fortune's market in order to secure a half decent living for the two of us. I know they meant well but they had know idead what he was really like. "

Jurgis couldn't help but feel an uncomfortable amount of guilt well up inside him. He wasn't sure he deserved to hear her story, but at the same time he could tell she wanted to talk about it. Maybe she even _needed_ to talk about it.

"He doesn't hurt you or your daughter does he?" He asked. Roslyn fell silent.

"I'm sorry. It wasn't my place to as"

"He has in the past." She interuppted. Their steps stopped, and Roslyn found herself staring at the ground, unable to look at him in the eye.

"Whenever he had a bad month of sales, or sometimes when he comes home drunk and in a bad mood. He'll-"

Jurgis put a hand on her shoulder.

"That's enough. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." He said. _"I shouldn't involve myself in her life affiars like this"_

Roslyn collected herself.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to dump all of that on you. "She said. Jurgis smield faintly.

"It's okay. Come, I'm sure Emma is waiting for you."

Just as he said, Emma was standing in the doorway with Earl. She ran to her mom and wrapped her arms around her.

"Welcome back Momma!" She jeered.

"Thanks honey. "

Emma looked at Jurgis then tried to hide behind her mother. Roslyn laughed and put a hand on Emma's head.

"I'm sorry. She's just shy. " She said.

"It's alright."

He kneeled down to Emma's level.

"I'm Jurgis. It's a pleasure to meet you little lady." He said with a smile.

"I'm Emma" SHe said meagerly.

"What a lovely name." He said standing back up.

"How rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself to you."Roslyn said bowing. Jurgis forgot completely "_I can't beleive I alsmost let her tell me her life story without even knowing her name first"_ He thought to himself. She held out her hand.

"I'm Roslyn Eversted. It's a please to me you sir."She said. Jurgis gently took her hand.

"Please, Jurgis will do"

fuwa-I haven't written anythin in forever. But this idea came to me while I was watching the first strike ( well duh XD) at those little moments when you notice how well two people look together. Anyway ~


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